Western Sydney Wanderers will travel to Melbourne this Sunday to face A-League defending champions Melbourne City in the ninth round of the 2021/22 Australian League season.
Venue: Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Key Statistics
Melbourne City have kept only one clean sheet in the league this season.
The hosts have scored seven goals and conceded six so far this term.
Western Sydney Wanderers have scored four goals in the league this season – only Brisbane Roar have scored less.
The visitors have lost their last two away games in all competitions.
Head to head
Melbourne City have been dominant in this tie in recent times, winning eight of the last 15 head-to-head meetings with WS Wanderers.
Latest Performances in all competitions
Melbourne City: L-D-W-L-W
WS Wanderers: L-L-L-W-D
Melbourne City
Melbourne City will look to put their FFA Cup disappointment behind them when they welcome WS Wanderers to their home stadium on Sunday evening.
The hosts lost to Wellington Phoenix in midweek, ending their participation in the FFA Cup for this season.
They will now return their focus to the league, where they have taken eight points from their opening six games (W2, D2, L1).
Their last league outing was a 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory and they were reduced to ten men in that game after Jamie Maclaren was shown a red card late in the game. But the striker will be available for this tie after serving his suspension in the aforementioned FFA Cup loss to Wellington Phoenix.
Overall, their title defence remains intact as they are just five points behind Melbourne Victory who are on top of the table having played a game more.
They will be desperate for a win in this game as that will keep them within touching distance of the top of the table.
Possible Melbourne City starting line-ups
Tom Glover; Scott Galloway, Rostyn Griffiths, Curtis Good, Scott Jamieson; Aiden O’Neill, Connor Metcalfe, Florin Berenguer; Marco Tilio, Andrew Nabbout, Jamie Maclaren.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Mathew Leckie
Suspended: None
Western Sydney Wanderers
Unlike their hosts, WS Wanderers did not participate in the FFA Cup in midweek, as they had crashed out in the previous rounds.
So they come into this tie physically fresh, having not played a game since the 18th of December, due to a combination of Covid-19 and their exit from the FFA Cup.
After ending the previous year on a three-game losing run, the visitors come into the new year looking to begin on a strong note.
Robinson Carl’s side are currently sitting in ninth place with just five points on the board (W1, D2, L2). They will be desperate to pick up maximum points from this game as they can move into the playoff spot if they win this game by a good margin.
Possible Western Sydney Wanderers starting line-ups
Tomas Mejias; Rhys Williams, John Koutroumbis, Thomas Aquilina, Adama Traore; Steven Ugarkovic, Terry Antonis, Ramy Najjarine; Bernie Ibini-Isei, Dimitri Petratos, Tomer Hemed.
Injured: Vedran Janjetovic
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Melbourne City 1-0 WS Wanderers
